Indiana Gaming Commission figures for Northwest Indiana’s five casinos showed a 1.4 percent decline from $74.97 million in January 2017 to $73.78 million last month. Although revenue fell, Northwest Indiana casinos fared better than Chicago-area Illinois casinos which posted a 3.5 percent decline in revenue.
At Horseshoe Hammond, Casino Senior Vice President and General Manager Dan Nita said, “We expected about a 2 percent decline last month, based on the calendar alone.” January 2016 included an additional Sunday. Also, the opening of Four Winds South Bend, located an hour away, didn’t have much impact–however, the Potawatomi Indian Tribe’s slots-only casino, the first tribal casino in the state, only was open for two weeks in January. “We’ll see its full impact in February. We fully expect our guests to try it,” Nita said.
Ameristar Casino and Hotel Vice President and General Manager Matt Schuffert agreed it’s still too soon to tell how the new South Bend casino will impact the local market. He said Ameristar “definitely had a strong month,” especially on the table games side, due to the volume of play and because the casino “had some luck” in January. “I’m hoping we’ll start to see some growth on the slot side,” he added.
Ameristar was the only area casino that posted increased revenue, up from $17.09 million in January 2017 to $18.46 million in January 2018. Table games accounted for $5.46 million last month and $3.37 million the previous January. Slot revenue fell from $13.73 million to $13 million, and attendance dropped from 185,882 to 160,406.
Horseshoe Hammond took in $33.54 million last month compared to $33.8 million in January 2017. Horseshoe’s slots win dropped 7 percent from $23.96 million to $22.67 million. However, table game volume rose more than 7 percent and table win grew 21 percent from $9.84 million to $10.87 million. Attendance fell from 283,751 to 254,715. Nita said the weather had little impact on January revenues. “It was cold, but there were no snow-out days,” he said.
Of the five Northwest Indiana casinos, Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City is located closest to Four Winds South Bend and Four Winds New Buffalo, Michigan. As expected, it took the biggest hit from Four Winds South Bend’s opening, with revenue decreasing from $11.98 million in January 2017 to $10.66 million this January. Attendance dropped from 168,028 to 142,549 customers. However, table games increased from $1.24 million in January 2017 to $1.36 million last month.
Revenue fell at both Majestic Star Casinos in Gary in January 2018 compared to January 2017. Majestic Star 1 took in $6.56 million versus $7.27 million, and Majestic Star II took in $4.56 million compared to $4.83 million. Table games and slot revenue dropped slightly at both and total attendance dropped from 136,556 to 126,674.
